Le Petit Chose

"A Toast!"
From the 1898 Jane Segwick translation

Le Petit Chose (1868), translated into English as Little Good-For-Nothing (1878, Mary Neal Sherwood) and Little What's-His-Name (1898, Jane Minot Sedgwick), is an autobiographical memoir by French author Alphonse Daudet.

Contents

Taking its title from the author's nickname, it recounts Daudet's early years from childhood, through boarding school and finally to Paris and his first successes as an author. It was Daudet's first published work, though not first written. It is semi-autobiographical.^[1]

Influence

Canadian author Yann Martel (Life of Pi), in talking about his most memorable childhood book, recalled Le Petit Chose, saying that he read it when he was ten years old, and that it was the first time he found a book so heartbreaking that it moved him to tears.^[2]

Film

In 1938, the book was made into the movie Le Petit Chose by French director Maurice Cloche. It starred Arletty, Marianne Oswald, and Marcelle Barry in the leading roles and featured then 14-year-old classical guitarist Ida Presti in a supporting role as a guitar player.^[3]

Notes

1. Roche, Alphonse Victor (1976). Alphonse Daudet. Boston: Twayne Publishers. pp. 15, 38-40.
2. Martel, Yann (2006). "Exclusive Interview with Yann Martel". AbeBooks. Archived from the original on 2006-01-13. I remember the first time I cried reading a book. It was a novel by Alphonse Daudet, an autobiography called Le Petit Chose or "The Little Thing" which was a nickname the author received as a child. It was a heartbreaking story and I remember hiding in the bathroom to sob. It took me by surprise that I could be moved so much by a book. I was ten years old.
3. "Analyse et Critique des Films: Le Petit Chose". La Cinématographie Française (in French) (1023): 24. 10 June 1938. The film is further discussed throughout the magazines in June, July and August.

External links

• Le Petit Chose at Internet Archive (collection includes English translations).
• Chapter IV: "History of my Books, Little What's-His-Name", from Thirty Years in Paris, by Alphonse Daudet.
• (in French) Le Petit Chose, audio version